We’ve found through testing how programmatic and paid social advertising can be the dynamic duo of digital marketing — especially when it comes to the restaurant and hospitality industries. Yes, Meta is a great place to build hype and drive reservations for your restaurant. However, a longstanding challenge has been the limited ability to accurately track whether ads are translating into actual visits. Prior to integrating programmatic advertising, we lacked concrete proof that our campaigns were driving foot traffic. While traditional tactics like discount offers and QR codes can help, they often create complexity and added pressure on restaurant staff. Programmatic advertising elevated our tracking capabilities by providing precise, actionable data. And importantly, we were able to maximize efficiency by repurposing our existing video creative across both channels without incurring additional time or production costs. Here’s Why Two is Better Than One:  ✅ Track Real-World Results: Programmatic ad tech allows us to measure actual foot traffic – not just clicks. Paid social drives awareness, engagement, and actions like orders or reservations. Together, they connect the full journey from scroll to storefront. 🧠 Smarter, Data-Driven Targeting: Our AI tools use pixel tracking and mobile device data to report on in-store visits. We turn this insight into custom audiences, retargeting strategies, and high-converting lookalikes. 📊 Proof Your Marketing Works:   Without programmatic data, it’s hard to prove ROI beyond online engagement. Our integrated approach ensures you can see exactly what’s driving visits and revenue. To put this principle into practice, our client since summer of 2024 recently implemented display and TV ads – in addition to those currently running on social media platforms. Shrimp Basket is a casual family-focused seafood restaurant offering a welcoming atmosphere where guests can experience the essence of the coast while enjoying delicious, high-quality cuisine. Since opening in 1993, the original Gulf Shores seafood restaurant has expanded to 18 total locations all across the Southeast.  While developing and executing this strategy, we focused on ZIP-code targeted Meta ads to promote takeout, loyalty rewards, and the dine-in experience. Segmented creative was deployed for loyalty promotions, seasonal offers, and new menu rollouts. Based on booking data and order performance, campaigns were optimized on a weekly basis to fine-tune results and drive measurable impact: 🚶‍♂️ 2,600+ (trackable) foot traffic visits tracked in the first month of programmatic ad launch 📈 80% of new rewards program sign-ups driven by Meta ads each month 📸Not to mention, organic social reach has grown by 52% since September 2024! Specifically on the Shrimp Basket Facebook page, content interactions are up 350% and total views increasing by more than 450%.  The client was so thrilled with the trackable success following our first campaign test, we immediately launched this strategy for the remainder of the summer to support other crucial campaigns they had planned.  This campaign illustrates the positive impact programmatic and paid social ads can have on your restaurant when paired together. A performance-based strategy leads to scalable results, and loyalty programs and offer-based creatives drive long-term customer growth. Whether you want to fill tables, grow your rewards program, or launch new locations — we’re here to help you make it happen. 📲 Let’s turn clicks into customers and boost foot traffic through your doors. Reach out to Kelsie McDuffie at kelsie@gomcduffie.com  to schedule a strategy call and see what’s possible.

We pulled the top 12 performing ad creative across all of our clients in 2024. From lead-generation to e-commerce, we created a custom strategy to fit each brand’s exact needs and surpass their goals. With consistent creative refreshes and continuous campaign optimization, last year was full of result-driven creativity! Here are the trends we noticed in our best performers: ✔️ Before & Afters ✔️ Promotional Offers ✔️ Closed-Captioned Reels ✔️ Customer Testimonials ✔️ User-Generated Content (UGC) For our e-commerce clients, we've found that integrating the advertising platform directly with the website and shop creates the best customer experience. (If you're familiar with media buying, the technical term is a Website + Shop campaign) This seamless setup allows shoppers to browse the catalog and complete their checkout all in one place. McDuffie Marketing can also provide the service of sourcing, communicating, and approving UGC creators to ensure b rand consistency, effective messaging & an impactful delivery. Let’s start with a look at our top three standout ads from 2024! 🌟  Client: CCO Menswear 🌟  $25 CPA with 6.6X ROAS 🌟 $38K in revenue  Client: Miracle Method 🌟 394 leads at $27 CPA Client: CCO Menswear 🌟  11X performance during the Black Friday season  Client: Miracle Method Client: Granite Garage Client: C-Storemaster Energy Client: Fun Pasta Client: Shrimp Basket Client: Fun Pasta Client: Shrimp Basket Client: CCO Menswear: Pinterest Ad Client: Precious Sound Remember: don’t over think it and test, test, test! Sometimes simple, concise & direct is your winner. We understand creative can be a major headache for brands, but that’s where we come in. At McDuffie Marketing, we’re here to help you see the kind of growth and results you’ve been dreaming of for 2025. Reach out and let’s work together to turn your goals into measurable success.

As an Entertainment Industry marketer in my past life, I was ecstatic when Precious Sound approached me to work with them to kick off their Paid Media Efforts. Here's some fun news about their collab with the Beatles. We look forward to a jazzy year of bringing their products to market and getting the word out about who Precious Sound is. Here's a look at one of their Meta ads we launched a few weeks back:

A C-Store Master Energy Case Study The Client:  As a leading distributor of fuel for convenience stores, C-Store Master Energy specializes in top quality services, products, and branding. Through their strategic partnership with ExxonMobil, they offer capital allotments for technology improvement, loyalty and rewards programs, and a branding budget to ensure all stores have the best tools to succeed. The Goal:  C-Store Master Energy aimed to expand its customer base by converting existing clients, who primarily purchase tobacco and beverage products, into buyers for their fuel. To achieve this, they teamed up with McDuffie Marketing to launch their first-ever paid advertising efforts in October 2024. “We’ve had more leads come in over the last two months than we’ve had the rest of the year.” – Tyler Abbett, Head of Sales at C-Store Master Energy.   The Strategy:  Meta: To drive leads and website traffic, we created a lookalike audience based on C-Store Master Energy’s current customer base and targeted job titles such as “convenience store owner,” “store manager,” and “food retailer.” The creative featured iPhone-recorded videos of sales manager Tyler at convenience stores who are actively using their services. By familiarizing the audience with a trusted figure, this personalized approach helped build rapport with current and future customers. Google: To drive form submissions for C-Store Master Energy, we segmented Google Ad campaigns for Search and Performance Max ads with a focus on high-intent keywords like “fuel wholesaler for c-store” and “energy solutions for c-store.” The copy highlighted cost savings and operational benefits, which directed potential customers to a mobile-optimized landing page featuring a clear call-to-action. 480K TOTAL IMPRESSIONS Across Meta and Google in 60 days The Results:  The combined efforts of the paid advertising campaigns yielded impressive results within just the first 60 days. On Meta, the video ads attracted more than 152,000 views with outstanding social proof (likes,  comments, and shares). This lookalike audience strategy earned an average cost per lead of $11. On Google, the Search campaign achieved a 9.7% click-through-rate with over 230,000 impressions. The Performance Max campaign was a strong driver of overall traffic with more than 3,000 clicks. The Takeaway: This case study demonstrates how successful Meta and Google Ads can work for niche brands. Each platform offers options for targeting to make finding the right customer for your company possible. Through targeted audiences strategies and compelling ad creative, C-Store Master Energy had more quality leads come in over two months than the entire year. Contact us at McDuffie Marketing to learn how to drive your sales and fuel your business growth. C-Store Master Energy news articles https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230927610516/en/C-StoreMaster-Launches-Energy-Distribution-Division   https://www.cspdailynews.com/fuels/c-storemaster-launches-fuel-distribution-division https://csnews.com/ma-deal-spurs-c-storemaster-launch-energy-distribution-division

Our team at McDuffie Marketing has the pleasure of running organic social media for Barnakl, which offers an innovative and cost-effective approach to air purification. Barnakl’s plant-based coconut carbon filters attach to existing ceiling fans to improve the quality of in-home air – and at a price point more widely accessible than that of traditional air filtration systems. We began working with Barnakl in early October 2023, just months after their online store launched. The company’s social media presence had prior success thanks to two viral videos that launched their business into an entirely new dimension. It was this growth that led the owners to understand the importance of organic social media and consistently fresh content. We picked up right where the viral videos left off by continuing to share valuable content, and ultimately converting thousands of interested TikTokers into clean-air-breathing customers. Within less than three months under our management, Barnakl reached 10,000 followers on TikTok and sold nearly 17,000 units on TikTok Shops. In the same timespan, Barnakl’s Instagram following doubled. McDuffie Marketing has brought timely trends, customer reviews, educational material, how-tos, Q&As, and use-case videos to Barnakl’s social media – the success of which has trickled over into every other aspect of their marketing funnel. The coconut carbon filters were named a top cleaning product on Amazon, and continue to see stellar returns on both TikTok and Meta ads (run by Courtney Fritts of Axiom Marketing Solutions). There’s a lesson to be learned from Barnakl’s approach. By investing in content creation, ad spend, and a dedicated marketing team, Barnakl was able to meet (and exceed) aggressive revenue goals. Beyond profit, the return on marketing investment also comes in the form of an established, excited audience. This early success has allowed the Barnakl founders to rapidly perfect their product and look ahead to launching new products and features in 2024. The chances of your revenue dreams becoming a reality all fall within an openness to invest – and be flexible – when it comes to marketing. Having a front row seat to Barnkal’s rapid growth has been every entrepreneur’s dream, and we look forward to continuing to grow alongside Barnakl in 2024. Here’s to clean air for all! *Alongside McDuffie Marketing, Barnakl partners with Axiom Marketing Solutions for paid ads and AMB Interactive for email marketing.

McDuffie Marketing WIN this week. One of our long time clients decided to add on Pinterest advertising to their services with us. We launched the account 90 days ago and are already seeing stellar returns. You may hear a lot of buzz in the ad buying world about how "Pinterest ads don't work" & "There's just not enough volume." This account has proved all of those theories and opinions to be false. I believe the initial success we have had over the last 3 months is due to the right product at the right price point, good creative & a great existing customer base. I will be the first to say, Pinterest ads are not for every brand but they can bring in massive wins for the appropriate products. I've attached a screenshot of the last 24 days of success! We started at a small "test" spend of just $3,000/mo and have already seen a return of almost $13K in 24 days. We also run Meta & Google ads for this brand too. Check out the ROAS on the 2 conversion campaigns 🤯 We can't wait to see where Pinterest takes this brand in 2024!